Democracy is the regime people have freedom to think, express them, realize their wishes inside the legal framework, and take part in the political system. In democracy, there exists a state which is responsible for keeping the social peace and the national security against the external attacks. In another word, if everything goes fine inside the country, the state does not intervene anything; however, if there is a conflict inside the country between groups the state intervenes to develop an agreement between sides of the conflict or if the external powers attack the country, the state is responsible for constructing a national defense. Eventually, in a democratic state, the powers reach a consensus. We can call this consensus as an equilibrium point in the political system. The state is responsible for creating an organization to protect the equilibrium in the political system.
Socialism has a different approach to the state mechanism. Socialism is the regime that the production is controlled by the state to ensure that every individual receives some basic rights. In another word, the state controls all the production resources to provide enough goods and services to satisfy people’s needs equally. Thus, it is completely different from democracy. There is only one power. This power creates an organization to serve the public. This organization is called state. The state is responsible for everything in the country.
A simple comparison between two regimes indicates us that socialism is more centralized regime relative to democracy. In democracy, the government intervenes when it is needed while, in socialism, the state is responsible for everything. Thus, the citizens are free inside the legal framework in the democratic state whereas the citizens are under control in the socialistic state. In another word, in the democratic regime, the citizens can construct their equilibrium freely. In the socialism, the equilibrium is defined by the state and every citizen has to follow this definition.
Analyzing the place of the state in socialism and democracy exhibits us that, in socialism, the state is located in the center. The state is the most powerful being in the country and it has functions to regulate everything in the country. Also, everything belongs to the government. To have a better understanding of socialism, let us see how an investment occurs in socialism. The decision of a new investment can be given by the state. However, it does not mean that some people in the state decide freely. There are rules known and written by everybody in the country and these rules determine new investment decisions. No private company or no person can have anything nor can make investments. As can be understood easily, the state is everything in socialism. Everything is regulated with the written strict rules.
In democracy, the state is the strongest entity and it might seem to be similar to socialism. However, it is completely different. The state is the strongest; hence, the state can ensure the stability and the sustainability of the regime. It is not the strongest to make every decision in the country. Private companies and individuals can own things and can be entrepreneurs. Citizens are free inside the legal framework. The legal framework in democracy is much looser than the legal framework in socialism. In democracy, only some general rules are written and every citizen respects them. Everything in the country is not regulated by the state.
Consequently, theoretically, socialism is a centralized regime in which everything is controlled. Citizens have to follow the rules and the decisions made by the state. It is assumed that the state can make the best decisions for everybody in the country. Some mechanisms theoretically guarantee the success in socialism. Democracy is a regime that citizens are free inside the system. However, damaging the system or trying to damage the system is forbidden. In case of conflicts, the state intervenes. The decisions inside the legal framework are made freely by the private companies and free citizens.
REFERENCES
Dewey, John. "Creative Democracy: The Task Before Us." John Dewey: The Later
Works 1925-1953. Ed. Jo Ann Boydston. Vol. 14. Carbondale: Southern Illinios
UP, 1988. 224-30.
Warren, M. E. 1999. “Democratic Theory and Trust.” In Democracy and Trust, ed.M. E.
Warren. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 310-345.
Zimbalist, Andrew, Howard J. Sherman, and Stuart Brown. 1989. Comparing Economic Systems:
A Political-Economic Approach, 2nd Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
